Hey Soopernaut, it has almost 2 years since I posted my original question about going from manual to power-steering. .
Just to update, on a tip from Brian in WA, I did purchase the Ram Assist from Kelly which I found out was a rare commodity. I had that unit rebuilt at Steer & Gear in Ohio which cost $400. They did a nice job and that part was good to go. Given options today I might have went a different direction with the CPP product.
After 2 years of working on the restoration, I finally got to point where I could go for a test drive on the new BF Goodrich Radial TA's and the results were less than satisfactory. The truck was all over the road, like driving on ice, extreme slop in the steering wheel. I had installed the caster shim kit the I got from Ron that is needed when you upgrade to power assist as I found out from posts on the Forum. It drove better before I put the new shoes on. The BFG's are wider and so the slop in the wheel was probably exaggerated due to more rubber on the road.
Then when I was rereading my posts and trying to research what was the culprit with this big step backwards, I saw Soopernaut's factoid that the steering gear is the same for manual or power assist setups. As the lightbulb went off, I realized I had addressed the concern that you needed to be able to crush walnuts with your bare hands to turn the truck by installing the RAM Assist, but I had failed to remember way back when that the steering was sloppy to begin with. I didn't know it then, these are two separate issues but I must be learning some things as I restored The Dude because at least I was able to connect the dots now.
So back to Steer & Gear again to rebuild the steering gear box. Steer & Gear charges about $375.00 to do the job, if anyone knows a better option, please let me know. Hopefully this will get "The Dude" down the road safely and then if my daughter is nice to me, I may let her get behind the wheel as long as I am riding shotgun. This was supposed to be her truck but now it is show quality so it forced me to get a different first ride, embarrassed to say, but a Chevy Impala
Thanks again Soopernaut for words then that I did not comprehend 2 years ago that have jogged my memory to help me now. The information is usually always in the forum somewhere you just have to dig a bit. Thanks to all of you that have helped me get this far, all of your assistance and community caring have been a most enjoyable life's experience.
Rick Mansberger
1970 Dodge D100
"The Dude"
2006 C300
"NCC1701"
2014 RAM Limited
"Master Sargent "
2015 Hellcat
"Meow"
Put an ad in the Parts Wanted section. Bud will